New York|Pier 40 to Be Saved Under Plan to Build 1,500 Apartments in West Village

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Pier 40 to Be Saved Under Plan to Build 1,500 Apartments in West Village

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Pier 40, known for its parking lots and athletic fields, could be saved under a plan that would sell the air rights to the pier to a developer building apartments across the West Side Highway.CreditCreditSam Hodgson for The New York Times

After years of debate, disagreement and inaction, New York City officials and developers plan to announce on Wednesday a proposal to save Pier 40, the former cargo terminal in Manhattan that is in danger of collapsing into the Hudson River, by selling off air rights to a developer that plans to build on the other side of the West Side Highway.

The plan, which still needs to go through a public approval process, envisions raising more than $100 million by selling the air rights to allow the development of five buildings between Clarkson and Charlton Streets, on the eastern flank of the highway, that would include hundreds of apartments for low- and middle-income households.

The money raised would be used to repair the 15-acre pier, which is currently known to most New Yorkers for its public parking lot and crowded but aging athletic fields. A recent study found that the pier was falling apart, with more than half of the 3,500 steel pilings that support the structure suffering from severe deterioration.

“This is a huge win for the park,” said Madelyn Wils, the president of the Hudson River Park Trust, a partnership between New York State and the city that is charged with the design, construction and operation of the four-mile-long park along the river.

The creation of the park has been one of the most ambitious investments in public space in Manhattan since the construction of Central Park and has helped transform the Hudson waterfront.

Developers have taken advantage of the improvement by building gleaming towers on the other side of the highway, most catering only to those who could afford to pay millions of dollars for an apartment.

Ms. Wils said that for the first time, this plan would call for a developer to contribute to the well-being of the park itself.

Carl Weisbrod, the chairman of the New York City Planning Commission, said that affordable housing was desperately needed in the West Village area and that the proposal would also protect the pier as a community space.

The city estimates that the playing fields are used some 230,000 times a year by members of youth and adult athletic leagues. But the site has suffered the ravages of time, battered by the sea and salt and storms. The Hudson River Park Trust, which oversees the property, is losing an estimated $1.6 million annually because of the poor condition of the complex, forced to shutter large sections because they are unsafe, according to city officials.

In the last four years alone, the trust spent $18 million in emergency repairs just to keep Pier 40 functioning — almost all of the money generated by the parking lot.

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New York City officials estimate that the playing fields on Pier 40 are used some 230,000 times a year by members of youth and adult athletic leagues.CreditSam Hodgson for The New York Times

In 2013, the State Legislature approved a bill intended to rescue the pier and bail out the park.

Under the law, the trust was allowed to sell development rights to builders opposite the West Side Highway.

The proposal fell apart, however, under vehement local opposition and political wrangling.

The current proposal will be subject to public review by Manhattan Community Board 2, the borough president, the Planning Commission and the City Council.

Unlike the previous proposal, the new plan puts an emphasis on the creation of affordable housing, a top priority for the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The project, being developed by Westbrook Partners and Atlas Capital Group L.L.C., will include five buildings ranging from 240 feet to 430 feet tall, rising on the site of the St. John’s Warehouse.

It will create 1.7 million square feet of floor space, of which 1.3 million will be devoted to housing, with 1,586 residential units created. Thirty percent of those units would be a mix of low-income, moderate-income and senior housing.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A24 of the New York edition with the headline: Plan for 1,500 Apartments Would Save Imperiled West Side Pier. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe